Kim Jong-Un Asks China If He Can Stop By for a Visit

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (C) sits in a wooden boat with other soldiers as he visits military units on islands in the most southwest of Pyongyang.
(REUTERS/KCNA KCNA)

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Kim Jong-Un has reportedly requested a formal state visit to Beijing, but his Chinese neighbors may not thrilled by the idea of North Korea's leader crashing on their couch. According to Reuters' Benjamin Kang Lim, Kim's uncle, Jan Song-thaek, went to China last week to request a state visit some time in September, but the meeting apparently did not go over so well.

However, China can't afford to ignore Kim entirely. The reason he has requested the meeting is to ask for help with economic reforms, which could both keep China's "ally" stable and help buffer the rising power of South Korea. They may be an unreliable ally, but a failed North Korean state sharing a border with China would be even more troublesome. China could seize this opportunity as chance to force Kim back into international peace talks and use the possibility of a visit as bargaining chip to keep the new leader in line. It already caused quite a stir when it was merely hinted he might go to Iran, but for the president of a country with few friends, Kim Jong-Un can't be too picky.

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